I had this problem with soap for a while (there was a “Dove isn’t soap!” campaign that didn’t say what it… like… was… and I switched to Ivory because I wanted soap.)
There’s a label on the back as well with details. The front label is a billboard, designed to get your attention and take advantage of brand loyalty, so yes—you are expected to know it’s detergent, and they are happy to handle the crazy rare edge-case person who does not recognize the brand. I suspect they also expect the supermarket you buy it at to have it in the “laundry detergents” section, likely with labels as well, so it’s not necessary on the front label.
There’s a laundry section, with detergent, fabric softeners, and other laundry-related products. I don’t think the backs generally say what the product is, and even if they do, that’s not very useful. And as I said, most laundry brands have non-detergent products. Not labeling detergent as detergent trains people to not look for the “detergent” label, which means that they don’t notice when they’re buying fabric softener or another product.
Actually—I took a closer look. The explanation is perhaps simpler.
Tide doesn’t make a stand-alone fabric softener. Or if they do—amazon doesn’t seem to have it? There’s TIde, and Tide with Fabric Softener, and Tide with a dozen other variants—but nothing that’s not detergent plus.
So—no point in differentiating. The little Ad-man in my said says “We don’t sell mere laundry detergent—we sell Tide!”
To put it another way—did you ever go buy to buy detergent, and accidentally buy fabric softener? Yeah, me neither. So—the concern is perhaps unfounded.
I dunno, the container I have says “detergent” on the front 3 times. In fact I think all of your pictures other than the Tide one contain “Detergent” in small print after the brand name, or at the bottom of the label.
What’s the deal with laundry detergent packaging? For instance, take a look at this http://news.pg.com/sites/pg.newshq.businesswire.com/files/image/image/Tide_Liquid_Detergent.jpg Nowhere on the package does it actually say it’s detergent! I guess they’re just relying on people knowing that Tide is a brand of detergent? Except that Tide also makes other products, such as fabric softener. And it’s not just Tide. http://www.freestufffinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/all-laundry.jpg http://dgc.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pDGC1-10603813v380.jpg http://dgc.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pDGC1-10603814v380.jpg http://dgc.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pDGC1-12184807v380.jpg
Doing a google search, the only image that I came across of a bottle that actually says “detergent” is this: http://dovsbythecase.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/allhefreeclear1.jpg If you zoom in, way at the bottom, in tiny print, it says “detergent”. Maybe the other ones also say it, but they weren’t zoomable.
I had this problem with soap for a while (there was a “Dove isn’t soap!” campaign that didn’t say what it… like… was… and I switched to Ivory because I wanted soap.)
There’s a label on the back as well with details. The front label is a billboard, designed to get your attention and take advantage of brand loyalty, so yes—you are expected to know it’s detergent, and they are happy to handle the crazy rare edge-case person who does not recognize the brand. I suspect they also expect the supermarket you buy it at to have it in the “laundry detergents” section, likely with labels as well, so it’s not necessary on the front label.
There’s a laundry section, with detergent, fabric softeners, and other laundry-related products. I don’t think the backs generally say what the product is, and even if they do, that’s not very useful. And as I said, most laundry brands have non-detergent products. Not labeling detergent as detergent trains people to not look for the “detergent” label, which means that they don’t notice when they’re buying fabric softener or another product.
Actually—I took a closer look. The explanation is perhaps simpler.
Tide doesn’t make a stand-alone fabric softener. Or if they do—amazon doesn’t seem to have it? There’s TIde, and Tide with Fabric Softener, and Tide with a dozen other variants—but nothing that’s not detergent plus.
So—no point in differentiating. The little Ad-man in my said says “We don’t sell mere laundry detergent—we sell Tide!”
To put it another way—did you ever go buy to buy detergent, and accidentally buy fabric softener? Yeah, me neither. So—the concern is perhaps unfounded.
I dunno, the container I have says “detergent” on the front 3 times. In fact I think all of your pictures other than the Tide one contain “Detergent” in small print after the brand name, or at the bottom of the label.